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Modron
| language = Common, }} 'Modron's are mechanical looking outsiders native to Mechanus, the Lawful Neutral aligned Outer Plane. Modrons are living creatures that resemble geometric shapes with humanoid limbs. They represent a living, physical manifestation of law without regard to good or evil. Types The base modrons (including the monodrone, the duodrone, the tridrone, the quadrone, and the pentadrone), the hierarch modrons (including the decaton, the nonaton, the octon, the septon, the hexton, the quinton, the quarton, the tertian, and the secundus), and Primus (The One and the Prime). Ecology Modrons follow a strict hierarchy, with each rank reporting to the rank directly above it, and issuing commands to the ones ranking beneath it. For example, a quadrone modron will report to a pentadrone, and command several tridrones. Modrons are only able to comprehend the existence of their own type, and those types immediately above and below them in the hierarchy. Other types simply do not register in its mind. In all, there are more than 360 million modrons, divided into fifteen ranks, or castes. Castes are hardly unique, but the modron approach to them is. Each caste has not only its own functions, but its own body shape as well. Thus, a modron’s physical appearance is a direct indicator of its rank. The castes are further categorized into base modrons and hierarch modrons. Base modrons perform mundane tasks; hierarch modrons plan and organize, oversee others, and manage entire areas. At the top of the list, of course, is Primus. From greatest to least, the fifteen modron castes are listed on the table below. Listed with each is the number of modrons in that caste and a brief description of their duties in Regulus. Primus and the hierarch modrons are also capable of telepathic communication, and the range of that power is given in a separate column. Life Cycle Some speculate that the modrons descended from some type of intelligent insect, and that this heritage has given them an incredible hive mind. There is, of course, no proof of this theory, nor is there really any way to check. Whatever their ancestors may have been, it’s clear that the modrons function in a communal manner, right down to life and death. Long ago, the modrons somehow learned to place energy into a central pool in Regulus and draw it back out again to power their own forms. When a modron dies, its life force is absorbed back into that pool, and a modron from the next lower rank is immediately promoted to replace it. This in turn creates a gap in the caste below, which is filled by promotion from the one below that. This process continues right down to the monodrone level. Monodrones, having no castes below them, reproduce by fission to replace lost members. The new monodrone formed when an existing one divides draws its life essence out of the pool. (In light of this life cycle, the claim that all modrons are one might be truer than it first seems.) Individual promotions occur seemingly by accident. Since modrons have no individuality, there’s no point in trying to promote the “best and the brightest”—all modrons of a given rank are equal. Thus, the nearest one of an appropriate rank is promoted when a vacancy occurs. This process of promotion is traumatic—not only does the chosen modron undergo a wrenching change of shape to the new rank’s form, but it suddenly gains knowledge previously veiled to it—the existence of another superior rank. Imagine the shock of a duodrone, which previously knew only of monodrones, duodrones, and tridrones, when it undergoes a promotion to tridrone. Suddenly, it discovers that some of those inexplicable creatures around it are quadrones— members of its own race and its new superiors! Nevertheless, a newly promoted modron seems to adapt instantly to its new form. Indeed, it is the humanoid observer who is often most shaken by the experience. Modron Society Because of their method of reproduction, modrons have no families, tribes, or clans. They live in rigid numerical units called, for lack of a better word, battalions. This term makes modrons sound more warlike than they really are, although they do maintain standing armies that are not to be trifled with (see The Armies of the Modrons, below). Modrons spend their lives performing the duties that Primus assigns, either directly or indirectly. Each modron accepts orders from members of the nexthigher caste and can, in turn, give instructions to members of the next-lower caste. In this way, orders filter down from Primus through all the modron ranks until they reach the caste capable of carrying them out. Although some less-informed scholars state that no modron acts except by the orders of a superior, this is not perfectly accurate. In general, a modron can act and react on its own, provided that the situation at hand falls within the range of its purpose. Thus, monodrones are rightly seen as incapable of reacting because each can perform only a single task at any given time. Modrons of higher ranks have correspondingly greater ranges of function, so they can react to more and more complex situations. Even so, modrons are notorious for their predictable and rigid reactions to events. The Modron Mentality Modrons are the ultimate creatures of law. Their very bodies conform to the unflinching regularity of geometry, and the flawless logic of their alien minds can lead them to conclusions that others might not even consider. Modrons have pitted themselves against—and beaten—all challengers at games of logic, so their supremacy in that area is undisputed. Modrons care only about order and law; they have no concept of good and evil. They can decide what is best and what is worst, but they cannot distinguish between right and wrong. This limited viewpoint makes dealing with these creatures a challenge. Attempts to explain good and evil to a modron can only result in it equating good with order and evil with chaos, for those are the best and worst possibilities it can imagine. It should be no surprise that the goal of every modron is to organize Mechanus in the most orderly fashion possible. Given the opportunity, of course, modrons would spread their rigid pattern of organization over the entire multiverse. Fortunately for the rest of the planes, order is constantly challenged by chaos, even in the clockwork vastness of Mechanus. Since even the slightest imperfection is enough to disturb the ultimate harmony that modrons seek, they seldom find the time or resources to carry their crusade to other realms or planes. Interactions with other Races Modrons are not completely without their uses to the residents of other planes. In fact, their single-minded pursuit of order is particularly beneficial in some areas. Wizards, for example, find that modrons make amazingly effective librarians, and some merchants appreciate having them as bookkeepers. On rare occasions, nonmodrons can hire modrons for particular tasks. The process is never simple, since the potential employee can never make that decision itself—all requests are subject to approval by superiors. Usually the request has to pass through several castes before an answer is forthcoming. Those who employ modrons must be constantly on guard against the creatures’ overzealousness. Sometimes a modron’s understanding of order, which is far deeper than that of most other beings, defies human comprehension. For example, a modron might decide to arrange all the books in one library by subject, in another by the first letter of the first word, and in yet a third by the page where the last diagram appears. All three of these approaches might somehow be vital to maintaining the overall order, as defined by the modrons. Order, after all, does not necessarily need to be understandable. Modrons’ attitudes toward their employers and coworkers can vary for no apparent reason. Sometimes these creatures are helpful, and sometimes they’re cruel—but they’re never entirely predictable in their dealings with other races. No one except other modrons can read a modron’s expression or guess at its true agenda. Thus, nobody with any sense really trusts one, even if it has been instructed to help. After all, it might have additional or competing orders from above, and it’s certainly not going to think twice about obeying those. Military The modrons maintain thirty-six great armies, each a powerful fighting force in its own right. One is stationed in each of the sixteen regions of Regulus, and each secundus maintains two armies in addition to its regional forces. Three armies are assigned to the tertians, to aid them with law enforcement and punishment. The remaining nine armies serve Primus directly. One of these acts as the official tower guard; the other eight are available as a reserve force for dispatch as needed. Each army is commanded by a hexton and comprises four corps, each commanded by forty pentadrones in constant telepathic contact with the hexton general. Every corps has two divisions (each led by twenty pentadrones), every division has four brigades (each led by ten pentadrones), and every brigade has four regiments (each led by five pentadrones). The regiment is the standard tactical unit of the modron army. It consists of two battles (each led by four quadrones), plus a squad of winged monodrone messengers and a special squad of twelve pentadrones. A battle comprises six regular companies of monodrones, two regular companies of duodrones, a special company of tridrones, a squad of quadrones, and another squad of messengers. A company consists of twelve squads (each with twelve troops and a noncommissioned officer called an NCO) and three officers. Each of the eight regular companies in a regiment is further divided into two wings plus a headquarters unit. Special units of messengers, shock troops, and the like may also be attached to a company’s headquarters. In all, a standard regiment consists of 70 officers, 192 NCOs, 252 messengers, and 2,628 line troops, for a total of 3,142 modrons. Despite the regimented order of their armies, modrons do not fare as well in war as other planar beings. When it comes to combat and the sheer cruelty that often accompanies warfare, modrons usually come out the losers. Rogue Modrons Rogue modrons are modrons who have left Mechanus and broken their connections to the other modrons. Of course, every rule has its exception, and rogue modrons are the exceptions to the rule of orderly modron society. Rogues are modrons who, for one reason or another, suddenly find that they cannot accept the orders of their superiors, or that they have lost the concept of the orderly modron society. Modrons who spend long periods alone, or have many superiors, or who advance and thus becoming different than others of their rank are the ones most likely to “go rogue.” Naturally, the modrons have tried to cut down on the factors that lead to this outcome, but there’s an indefinable factor in operation that they can’t isolate or identify. The most dangerous aspect of rogue modrons is the fact that they retain the power of command over lesser modrons. Though most rogues simply go off alone to explore the individuality they’ve discovered, it’s not unheard of for one to gather lesser modrons about it and establish its own power base. This makeshift army then goes forth to conquer, though for what purpose only the rogue itself could explain. Because of the possibility that such a creature could subvert others and wreak havoc on the order of Regulus (and even Mechanus as a whole), rogues are considered menaces to modron society. The hierarchs pour almost every resource they have into hunting them down, bringing them to trial, and destroying them. This is a difficult process because it’s often hard to tell when a modron goes rogue. A modron who told others of lower ranks to disobey their superiors would surely earn the designation of rogue, for this is tantamount to blasphemy in Regulus. But it is rare for even rogue modrons to do this because of their innate respect for order. The Realm of the Modrons The city of Regulus occupies sixty-four of the coglike wheels of Mechanus, called sectors. Each group of four sectors is called a region, and each group of four regions is called a quarter. Modrons of increasingly greater authority oversee each of these units, and over it all reigns Primus, the One and the Prime, supreme ruler of all modrons. The Tower of Primus stands at the hub of the central cog and the modron cathedral rises from one close by. The Great March Once every Grand Cycle (seventeen cycles, each of which is about seventeen years—the time it takes for the largest gear on Mechanus to turn once), a horde of modrons spills out of Mechanus and marches through the planes. Why? Nobody knows for sure, although it seems as if they’re gathering information as they march. The modrons cause all kinds of havoc in the planes through which they march. They don’t stop for anyone or anything, trampling right through towns and over any inhabitants who are too slow to get out of the way. It is ironic that these lawful automatons can be the cause of so much chaos. When they reach the Lower Planes, the conflict begins in earnest, with the inhabitants attacking the invaders from Regulus every step of the way. When the much-reduced force returns to Mechanus, the few remaining troops march straight to their superiors to report. What they say in this meeting is the subject of much speculation: Some claim that they report on the progress of the modron invasion; others insist that they merely describe the state of the planes. Granted, this seems a difficult way to gather knowledge, but perhaps the modron mind sees some particular logic about it. Whatever the case, the report is inexplicable to everyone except modrons. Over the centuries, the inhabitants of the other planes have grown accustomed to the March. Previous Marches are well documented, and an adventurous few have roughed out some of the probable routes for upcoming ones. Category:Outsiders Category:Inhabitants of Mechanus Category:Inhabitants of lawful neutral alignment